Michael Strahan has his Good Morning America co-star Robin Roberts to thank for helping him settle into his television career after transitioning from pro football.
According to Hello!, Strahan talked to Candace Parker about what it was like to have Roberts’ support once he became a correspondent for ABC.
“To be honest with you, I was such a fish out of water that Robin saved me in a lot of ways,” he said to Parker on her Moments podcast. “…I remember being at the Oscars on the red carpet and I was doing Live with Kelly at the time. I had never done an Oscar red carpet. I thought, ‘What am I doing on the red carpet and interviewing people?'”
He said he was "so nervous" but could see Roberts getting prepared on the red carpet for ABC's Oscars coverage.
He walked over to her to tell her how he felt.
“I see her and walk over and give her a hug. I tell her, ‘I’m scared to death. I’m scared.’ She just said, ‘You gonna be all right,’ and I said, ‘I really don’t know,’ and she said, ‘Trust me, you’ll be all right. I came from sports too.’ Just that very simple ‘I came from sports too’ made me go, ‘Wow, I forgot.'”
Roberts excelled in college in sports, particularly basketball, and also worked as a sports broadcaster before becoming a daytime fixture.
Strahan called Roberts' change 'a heck of a transition."
“Who knows Robin Roberts from sports really now? Nobody,” Strahan said. “…She made me feel so comfortable, even before I joined GMA. That moment was years before they even considered me joining. She just put me at ease. Now, every morning when I sit next to her, sit next to the person that puts me at ease in a job that we have to do. I’m lucky to sit next to her every morning.”
Apart from hosting GMA, Strahan and Roberts have also become television producers, with Roberts creating her “Robin Roberts Presents” slate of films for Lifetime and Strahan developed a project with ABC for 2018. The project was described as a sci-fi family drama that was a cross between This Is Us meets Westworld.
